"Many readers have asked whether I believe Hussam's testimony. The question is not whether I believe him; rather, it is that all his testimony is now highly suspect, which has done great damage to the Mehlis investigation and his preliminary findings."

What damage? In the eyes of those who wish to see it? Give me a break. Hariri's people categorically deny it (of course not mentioned by NYT until paragraph 8), so it is "he-said, she-said" at best...far from 'highly-suspect' at this point. Hussam spoke on Syrian state TV, no less...not exactly the home of reasoned discourse.

Couched in 'intellectual reason', Landis always seems to find a way to (cautiously but consistently) tell us that the Syrian Assad regime isn't all that bad. This instance is no different.

November 28, 2005

IranianNuclear Recon: “No Really. We downloaded it.”

"This is not information Iran downloaded from the Internet. This is information they obtained …from a nuclear-trafficking network that has provided a nuclear-weapon design to at least one other country."

—U.S. Ambassador to the IAEA Gregory Schulte, responding to Tehran’s defense that nuclear-weapon design information it purchased from the Khan network was “nonsophisticated information” that could easily be obtained online.

If Only W's Words

And we are winning. Soon Iraqi forces will be able to maintain order in the few hot spots that still exist in Iraq. We will stay the course until they are ready. We made no mistake ending Saddam's rule. We have brought not only freedom to Iraq, but progress to most of the Middle East. America should be proud of what it has accomplished. America will not cut and run until the Iraqis can manage their own security, and that will happen soon.

November 27, 2005

Disbelief Recon

[Former US Attorney General Ramsey] Clark, a controversial figure who was the top U.S. attorney in the late 1960s before becoming an anti-Vietnam war activist and a defender of figures including Slobodan Milosevic, said he hoped to strengthen Saddam's defense.

A former US Attorney General hopes to strengthen the defense of a sworn enemy of the United States?

Piracy Recon: Private US Firm in Somali Waters

I remember reading about a private US security firm that had been hired by Somalia to stamp out their piracy problem. I thought I had included it in the NewsBriefs, but apparently I had not. But, no worry...you just knew Eaglespeak would be all over it...

November 26, 2005

IED Recon: Adapt, Improvise, Overcome

Has a US Navy SEAL, motivated by the deaths of his friends in Fallujah, willed a vehicle solution to reality? It appears so. Upon their deaths, he and three others founded Granite Global Services and designed and built the Granite APC -1 in Kuwait, near the theater of operations. This vehicle and its occupants just survived an IED blast. No injuries and the vehicle apparently drove away.

November 24, 2005

Consistency Recon: What about the Middle East?

Despite the lack of results, we applaud Mr. Bush for raising these sensitive but crucially important issues. Democracy and human rights are universal, not merely American, values.

Why is this thinking not applied to the Middle East and Iraq, where the Times and others have consistently suggested in the past that the region is simply 'not ready' for democracy or that stability (through existing/past dictatorships) is more important?

'Charity' Recon

From heart-strings to det-cord...this caught my eye. Notable is that, even in their own 'comfortable surroundings', they do not identify themselves for what they are and that their 'popular support' may not be as popular nor as supportive as perceived and projected.

This (NSG action) we may be hearing much more of soon if the coming “talks about (resuming) talks” are true to historical form and fall through...or it may be the stick that causes those very talks to find a verifiable agreement.

Times Recon

In Fortitude and Caution, Marvin states: "Media and political leaders have become caricatures of the foolish who know no discretion and state truth and falsehood as one. The impact on distant shores being difficult to immediately know – it can be safely assured not to be to our advantage."

Illustrating to that end, Marc Schulman has taken it upon himself to research and chronicle the New York Times' Jekyll & Hyde routine on Iraq over the past dozen years and two administrations in The New York Times on Iraq, 1993-2005 (Part I). His opening two NYT quotes bookend the miraculous transformation that belies intellectual honesty.

November 22, 2005

al Castro Recon

Want Context and Perspective on Iraq? Ask a Marine In-Theater

Finally, what had circulated largely in e-mail form in relatively small (military) circles (to my knowledge) has now been published by The Washington Times as an OpEd. For the record, this 'OpEd' is the most efficiently informative article on the War in Iraq to date, bar none.

That this factual overview is relegated to and deemed at all an Editorial is nothing short of a shameful commentary in itself on rather large swaths of the dominant US media. There is more fact and less editorialization (subtle or otherwise) in this Marine's entire report than can be found in any 5-paragraph selection from, say, Edward Wong and his fellow travelers at the New York Times. Be sure to read it all (two pages).

Here's a taste of an un-filtered, un-edited Marine telling us like it is...and seemingly too difficult for the likes of most fo the US media to find and/or report:

When engaged, the enemy has a tendency to flee to the same building, probably for what they think will be a glorious last stand. Instead, we call in air and that's the end of that, more often than not.

These hole-ups are referred to as "Alpha Whiskey Romeos" ("Allah's Waiting Room"). We have the laser-guided ground-air thing down to a science. The fast movers, mostly Marine F-18s, are taking an ever-increasing toll on the enemy. When caught out in the open, the helicopter gunships and AC-130 Spectre gunships cut them to ribbons with cannon and rocket fire, especially at night. Interestingly, artillery is hardly used at all. Fun fact: The enemy death toll is supposedly between 45,000 and 50,000. That is why we're seeing fewer and fewer infantry attacks and more improvised-explosive devices, suicide bomber s***. The new strategy is simple: attrition.

The insurgent tactic most frustrating is their use of civilian non-combatants as cover. They know we do all we can to avoid civilian casualties, so therefore schools, hospitals and especially mosques are locations where they meet, stage for attacks, cache weapons and ammo and flee to when engaged. They have absolutely no regard whatsoever for civilian casualties.

November 21, 2005

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For what it's worth on Zalmay Khalilzad...

I have always had the highest opinion of Zalmay Khalilzad. I first learned of him while I spent months practically living at the RAND site: downloading, printing and reading everything I could get my hands on (which, if you have ever visited RAND, is a lot) beginning around late 1999.

My first 'run-in' with him was when I read Congage China, which was/is brief and brilliant.

When he was appointed to be U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan in 2003, I literally cheered out loud (that got a few looks). Pound for pound, in any diplomatic position, Zalmay Khalilzad is the right man for just about any job. I, for one, am glad he is now in Iraq.

Evan takes a longer view, using far more detail and post-Soviet Afghanistan and the emergence of al Qaeda as the backdrop. He is right on the money. His argument should be considered today's Must Read.

Strange Bedfellows

al-Zarqawi has been busy apologizing for bombing a Muslim wedding in Amman, saying al Qaeda in Iraq did not intend to bomb Jordanian Muslims, who "are more beloved to us than ourselves". This apparently applies only to Sunnis.

It is interesting how the Shiite Iranian regime supports Sunni al Qaeda by housing more than a few of their leaders and supplying arms and explosives to Sunni al Qaeda in Iraq, who in turn expends its largest munitions murdering and maiming Shiites in Iraq.

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